There are Fears Police Body Cam Footage Isn't Being Stored Securely

Police body cams certainly sound like a great idea, since it gives us (mostly) indisputable evidence of what officers have been doing. The problem is, video cameras that are on for long periods have a tendency to produce a lot of footage, which needs to be stored somewhere. Now police are worried that the footage might not be being stored securely enough.

A police force has told Sky News that it is seeking some assurance of this matter from the private company tasked with keeping the videos secure. Obviously the footage of officers' altercations with people is sensitive evidence, and they can't just have it falling into anyone's hands.

The fact that police can't be 100 per cent sure that the data is safe has left shadow policing minister Jack Dromey to call for the Home Secretary to take action.

"We do not know where the information is stored, we don't know who can access that information and therefore I will be asking the Home Secretary to make a statement to parliament when parliament resumes. She needs to act to reassure the public."

The concerns were raised after Sky News discovered that footage filmed by cameras made by American Firm Taser were being uploaded to a third-party cloud storage site. Cyber security experts claim that this is an unsecure way to store the data, and given the fact that everyone seems to be getting hacked these days they're probably right.

West Yorkshire Police, who trialled the Taser camera systems, is trying to make sure all the footage is erased from Taser's systems, and has promised never to use the service again. Assistant Chief Constable Andy Battle said that Taser has promised to erase the data, and that police are ensuring that its actually following through with that promise. He also added that any future footage would only be stored on West Yorkshire Police's own secure servers.

Taser still claims that its own system is more secure than any police server could be, but false promises of security are something we've heard a fair bit about recently. It's better to be safe than sorry. [Sky News]